Tuesday, September 26, 2017

A few moves made after last week's performances from around the state. If I am missing a team (or two) that deserve mention, please let us know in the comment section below. Typically, this would have been Stanford weekend which really let us know where everybody belongs. With no Stanford this year (maybe ever), we may have to wait a few weeks to find out. One invitational that will help is the Clovis Invitational and you can check out all the competing teams at that meet at this LINK.=====BOYS
1) Dublin (NCS) Division II
2) St. Francis, Mt. View (CCS) Division II
3) Granada (NCS) Division II
4) Maria Carrillo (NCS) Division III
5) Willow Glen (CCS) Division II
6) Bellarmine (CCS) Division I
7) De La Salle (NCS) Division II
8) Bella Vista (SJS) Division II
9) McClatchy (SJS) Division I
10) Sir Francis Drake (NCS) Division IV

Monday, September 25, 2017

THIS WILL BE UPDATED LATER TODAY (MONDAY-9/15/17). In the meantime, please let me know if any teams are missing or need to be moved up or down.======================================Now that we have had a few races, we can start to narrow our focus on the top teams in the Northern part of the state. It is still quite difficult to shorten the list to 10 so here is my best attempt to date. Please let me know if I missed any team or if any of the teams below should be moved up or down.=====BOYS
1) Dublin (NCS) Division II
2) Granada (NCS) Division II
3) St. Francis, Mt. View (CCS) Division II
4) Willow Glen (CCS) Division II
5) Bellarmine (CCS) Division I
6) Maria Carrillo (NCS) Division III
7) De La Salle (NCS) Division II
8) Homestead (CCS) Division I
9) Jesuit (SJS) Division I
10) Del Campo (SJS) Division III

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY PREVIEW: SANTA CRUZ STEPPING UP THIS YEARI know we all enjoy seeing our sport covered in local newspapers. When it comes to the paper that covers cross country and track and field the best, the Santa Cruz Sentinel is right there at the top. Check out the link below as the Sentinel gives us a SCCAL preview that includes one of the best teams in NorCal, the Santa Cruz girls.

FAVORITE WEBSITESFor those of you that follow teams in the Redwood Empire area, you are very familiar with Jim Crowhurst and all his great work through the years. You can now continue to follow Jim at the link below.http://www.redwoodempirerunning.com/

CONTRIBUTIONS WELCOMEAs always, if you ever have anything interesting to share that I could post on this site, please send it my way at albertjcaruana@gmail.com. If there are athletes and/or coaches that you would like to see interviewed, please let me know as well. Lastly, if you have ideas that would make this site even better, feel free to drop me an email.

Saturday, September 16, 2017

Picture-perfect conditions welcomed our 80 schools and over 3,000 entries for the 22ndAnnual Earlybird Invitational at the newly re-opened Toro Park in Salinas.

The early risers had the opportunity to meet and greet our special guests right before the open race. North Monterey County Coach Jackie Henderson tragically passed away in July and her mother and cousin flew in from New York to meet and support our athletes at the meet dedicated in her honor. Jackie truly looked down upon all today as tears and laughter filled the park throughout the packed-house event.

The open race was a nice start and the middle schoolers really showed in full force for their races. Although we give medals to the top kids, we don’t do results for them but we may need to start doing them with such an increase in field size and competition for the young pups.

The frosh girls kicked off the main portion of the event with a nice showing putting 8 girls under 20:00! Audrey Reed (19:20-Live Oak) held off all challengers to get her first meet win and gives Live Oak a nice addition along with their established star. Emily Minjares (19:23-Lincoln) wasn’t on our radar but certainly deserved to be with her runner-up effort. The ladies from Palo Alto made their Earlybird debut one to remember with their first team win (73 pts.).

For the frosh boys, we had Kevin Andrews (16:24-Los Altos) pegged as the heavy favorite and he didn’t disappoint with a fantastic effort early on. He ran away from this field and left runner up Christian Yarwood (16:55-Bellarmine) over 30 seconds back. Kevin is certainly a rising-star and made his effort look very easy. Bellarmine (66 pts.) ran away from everyone in the team race winning by 89 points! That’s usually unheard of at meets this size. The Bell army marches on.

The sophomore girls didn’t want the 9th graders to show them up and punched 10 girls under20:00 to best the rookies by 2! Oriana Jalal (19:13-Cupertino) was another pre-meet favorite who held true to form and held off the fierce upset-minded challenger in Tevah Gevelber (19:16-Castilleja). Team-wise, the young ladies from Carlmont (47 pts.) ran away with an almost 30 point victory with the lowest team score of the day!

The sophomore boys made it 3 for 4 on pre-meet favorites as Garrett Macquiddy (16:00-Westmont) just missed breaking the very difficult 16:00 barrier by one tick of the clock and will surely return to the park with that goal in mind next time. He had to fend off the most competitive bunch as Ethan Dodge (16:02-Whitney), Marco Del Canto (16:04-Willow Glen), and Adam Sage (16:05-Los Altos) were all within 5 seconds of the winner! A full three years of these youngsters locking horns. Willow Glen (91 pts.) got their fine day started with their first team win in fine style winning by 30 points.

The junior girls lost the sub 20:00 challenge to the younger girl’s races with only 7 girls under but sparkled up-front with 3 girls under 19:00!! Quinn Hagerman (18:32) was our upset pick coming from the heat and she didn’t disappoint with her fine run in the cool Salinas breeze. Emma Madgic (18:44-Aragon) was one of the favorites and held form with a nice 2 second runner-up effort. Our third shining star, Lila Roake (18:49-Santa Cruz), put pressure on the senior girls to match the three deep up-front fireworks we saw here! It takes an 18:15 to make the all-time top 25 Toro Park list and this trio now has that mark square in their sights. Monta Vista (49 pts.) provided yet another huge lop-sided team win by 61 points! Great team running.

The junior boys gave us the first sub 16:00 clocking of the day with Owen MacKenzie (15:39-Los Altos) and Henry Saul (15:50-Palo Alto) etching their names into the list of elite runners that have done so. They both were pegged as surprise upsets and they did just that after overtaking the hot early pace set by defending champ Victor Ochoa (16:04-Madera South). Victor held off valiantly as Chris Anderson (16:04-SLV), Sam Lavorato (16:05-Palma), and Maximiliano Chavez (16:05-Cupertino) closed fast to make it close at the end. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens, the finish tags were not sorted properly in the chute and only the top 95 individuals are believed to be correct times. Bellarmine (30 pts) is the unofficial team winner with only those individuals scoring but we are confident they were on their way to their 2nd team win of the day with four guys in the top 18!

The senior girls had the biggest names on tap and had the most festive race as the DJ had spectators dancing while the four-year runners made their last Earlybird tour. We knew Mari Friedman (17:57-Santa Cruz) was fit after her mind-boggling 17:41 first race effort at Toro last week. She pulled away easily in this one and ran away from an elite field to win by 19 seconds. Two sub 18:00 efforts in back to back weeks sets the CCS 800 meter champ up nicely for her senior campaign. Joyce Shea (Gunn-18:16 upset some bigger names to snag a coveted runner-up spot here. Kaylah Grant (18:20-Live Oak) indeed held on for a fast time and sets her 2017 season nicely. Marea Zlatunich (18:23-Aptos) came in with the best credentials and can’t be too disappointed with her nice showing for her first real test. Watch for her later in the season. The senior girls were not going to be denied and blew everyone away with 13 girls under 20:00! All in all, 38 girls under 20:00 is not too shabby for an early season meet! The ladies came to run today! The senior girls also got sick of team blow-outs and made it a rare result with 3 teams separated by 2 points! Whitney (72 pts.) traveled far and was rewarded winning a 1-point decision over (Santa Cruz 73 pts.) and a 2-point win over Gunn (74 pts.). A great team battle indeed.

Finally, the seniors closed the curtain on a great meet by producing one of the fastest individual times in park history! Highly touted Meikael Beaudoin-Rosseau (15:17-Bellarmine) didn’t disappoint. He came to run hard early on and blew the doors off the competition throwing down a time that now ranks him as the 7th fastest ever at the park. Interesting that Bellarmine with all their team success didn’t have an individual in the top 25 all-time at Toro Park before today. Now they certainly have that in Meikael as he sets his sights on bigger fish down the road and a very achievable shot at the park record of 15:02. Zach Walker (15:48-Willow Glen) got his second Earlybird runner-up spot in fine style as well. Seth Garcia (15:51-Madera South) adds a 3rd place to his two meet wins this season. Ryan Wilson (15:54-Carlmont) and Jorge Estrella (15:58-Andrew Hill) made it a fab-five day for them with nice sub16:00 efforts. Willow Glen (53 pts.) saw what the senior girls did and decided to also win a 1-point decision over runner-up Bellarmine (54 pts.)! We saved the closest team races for the end and ended the meet in great style.

Overall, the fastest team times came from a merged result. The ladies from Santa Cruz (95:15) came, took names, and walked off with the 3rd fastest team-time ever at Toro Park. They happen to hold the park record (94:30) as well so look for them to challenge that record down the road. Last week they ran 97:26 so things are pointing to a new course record soon by this veteran line-up led by one of California’s best. Aptos (99:54) ran well for second here and has the most room to improve down the road to make another magical run this season. Their veteran crew will develop as their aces are just getting started. Carlmont (101:20) broke all the form charts and beat many ranked teams.

The Willow Glen Rams (81:24) were coming off a sub-par showing and had a nice bounce-back effort here. It was enough to give the host school (North Monterey County-81:10-2003) a little scare almost taking them off the all-time top 10 team marks. The time is a new school record for Willow Glen making them a formidable opponent at the section and state levels. They will certainly crack the top 10 all-time team times list soon. Bellarmine (81:32) kept it close with a crew not at full-strength today. Give the Bells a few weeks and you will see a much different, record breaking monster once the injuries and illnesses are long gone. They feature the top individual in this part of California and certainly have the fire-power to climb the elite charts once again and take a crack at the park record (79:31). Los Altos (82:00) took advantage of their new young horse in the stable and will ride that momentum up the rankings.

The top combined program of the day goes to the team with the best showing across all 8 races. Not counting the junior boys (which we think Bellarmine won) due to the timing error, the 2017 meet gave us a thrilling 4 team tie! Earlybird veterans Bellarmine, Willow Glen, and Carlmont welcomed meet newcomer Whitney and they will all share the overall best program title this year! Willow Glen got to take the plaque home today with their 2 race wins but the other three teams can expect their hardware to arrive soon.

We want to thank all the athletes and coaches for making the meet a special event. We especially want to thank the over 80 volunteers for their service. Without them it would not be possible! And finally, we want to thank Coach Jackie Henderson’s mom for making the trip from New York to be with us as we honored and remembered her daughter. Now we see where Jackie got it from. We invite everyone to #RunlikeJackie in 2017!

Thursday, September 14, 2017

You can now find the meet preview courtesy of De La Salle assistant coach, Tony Roberts, at this LINK.Let us know if any individuals or teams were missed or deserve mention before the meet this coming Saturday.

The Oakland Tech girls, coached by former UCBerkeley All-American Richie Boulet. Tech will have 5 girls who all ran faster than 11:57 (1 returner under 11:00) last spring and will be among the top teams in Northern California. Boulet prepped at Sir Francis Drake and among his PRs, he ran a 3:53.25 mile. I don't think there are too many coaches with a faster personal best in the entire country.

Tuesday, September 05, 2017

The rankings thanks to West Valley HS coach Scott Fairley can be found at this LINK. The Northern Section has produced some very competitive teams and runners in the past such as Yreka's two time State Division IV championship teams (2011 and 2013). This year, former Stanford University all-american Ryan Hall will be coaching the University Prep team along with daughter Hana Hall. Photo to the left courtesy of wife and former Montgomery HS/Stanford University star, Sara Hall.

Monday, September 04, 2017

Another sad loss for our community as former Branson coach, Linda Gill (left in photo), passed away after battling brain cancer for the past few years. Aside from coaching multi state champion Julia Maxwell (right in photo), Gill was an outstanding runner herself. You can read about all her accolades, which included a state championship in the mile in 1976, at this LINK and this LINK. Our prayers go out to her family and friends.

Saturday, September 02, 2017

Here are all the Northern California Cross Country invitationals taking place the rest of this week. Let us know if you are planning on attending any of them. If you know of other invitationals that will be taking place but are not listed below, please let us know in the comment section. Any updates from today, please add them in the comment section as well.AUGUST
31 Jaguar Invitational @ Eagal Lakes (SJS)

Friday, September 01, 2017

The following was sent to coaches of teams that are participating in the upcoming Monte Vista Invitational this coming Tuesday. Perhaps other invites can do something similar to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey.
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Coaches -

Let's pause the discussion on our weather for a moment, and turn to the weather in Houston and the surrounding area. While I recognize this is short notice, I hope you can spread this information quickly today to your athletes and parents:

The athletes of the Monte Vista cross country team would like to use the Invitational as an opportunity to fund-raise for the Hurricane Harvey Relief Effort. The team has decided to direct all net proceeds from the meet to aid specific high school cross country programs in the Houston area. While the news is still unfolding, MileSplitUSA had a story about this just yesterday.

All profits from t-shirt sales and snack-table sales will be set aside and sent to designated relief funds. In addition, we are collecting gently used t-shirts and running shoes, to send to schools in need. Collection boxes will be at the park. Cash donations will be taken at our t-shirt table as well, and will be solely designated to be sent for relief efforts. I can personally assure you that all monies donated will go directly to qualified relief efforts.

Can you please send this flier out to your team parents and athletes today? If you are having practice (indoors or out) can you cover this with your student athletes?

We appreciate your consideration of this opportunity to help fellow runners in the Houston area.